Photos on this page (and links to YouTube)
include snapshots and art photos I shot while with eight Salem College
women and their Spanish professor-- Dr. Ho San Yoon (otherwise known as
"Pepe") -- in Mexico from January 2-25, 2009.
We
studied Spanish at Universidad Internacional in Cuernavaca (the City of
Eternal Spring).
We lived with Mexican families, and so, were immersed in Mexican culture. We spoke Spanish when we went home to eat and to study. Our group took cultural
outings on weekends to understand the context of the language we were
studying -- visiting ancient Mayan temples, Mexico's modern anthropology museum in Mexico City (where one cannot see everything in only one day) and even a resort beach, Acapulco (which was quite warm on a January day).
The trip was extraordinary, compelling-- and exhausting. Intercultural communication experts would say that we suffered some culture shock -- stress that comes from entering a new culture (Neuliep, p. 374). We also were in Cuernavaca long enough that we became acculturated to the people and the routines in a city where buildings opened hundreds of years ago share winding streets with condominiums and the modernist glass and chrome of a shopping center familiar to every resident of a medium-sized city in the United States.
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| Fresh fruit in Cuernavaca mercado |
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| Acapulco at dawn |
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